Mammoth Hot Springs Area

The Mammoth Terraces are continuously changing. Had you visited the area in the 1930’s, you would have found Blue Spring, Cleopatra, and Angel Terraces to be the feature attractions. Today they stand as gray, lifeless ruins, and newly named springs have succeeded them. Throughout the 1970’s Jupiter and Minerva Springs and parts of Highland Terrace have flowed freely, building delicate and colorful terraces. T

hese clear pools, rimmed by scallops of algae-tinted travertine, have created spectacles known around the world for their beauty. The tiered pools form as a result of the peculiar way in which the carbon dioxide escapes from the cooling water. In tranquil pools evaporation is slow. Where water is agitated the gas escapes quickly. At these points travertine is deposited rapidly. The rim of deposition grows upward to form a higher dam, which further accents the two zones. The travertine rim continues to grow until water pressure bursts the dam. Then the process begins again at a prominent riffle in the new channel.